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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

NuNaturals NuStevia Giveaway

If you're like me, you probably haven't tried stevia yet. I don't know about you, but I was pretty wary of this newfangled sugar substitute. It doesn't raise your blood sugar and it's supposed to be better for you than sugar, but it's expensive and it's a relatively new product. Remember when agave nectar was all the rage? Then it went from being the hottest thing to being just as bad for you as sugar (of course, this is debatable, but I'm staying out of it). What if I started using stevia only to find out it was also not as good for me as I thought? Maybe I should just wait a while before trying it out...

I waited a long time, but eventually I caved and bought myself some powdered stevia. It was truly the best cooking/baking investment I've made in a while. I've mentioned before that unrefined sugar (such as maple syrup, molasses, and dates) seems to have the same effect on me as refined cane sugar. I go a little bonkers, get all mood-swingy, and eat way more than my stomach can handle. There's usually some tears involved too (I guess that's only to be expected when you put mood swings and bonkers in the same sentence). Completely cutting out sugar was always too difficult for me though. Until I bought stevia. Since I've been using stevia, I haven't experienced any of the mood-swings or cravings that traditionally happen when I eat sugar, nor do I get headaches or any other physical symptoms. I succeeded in having my first Thanksgiving and Christmas completely sugar-free (although there might have been some molasses cookies sandwiched in between there), and I've been steadily sugar-free since. Of course, I'm hoping that I'll be able to experiment with more unrefined sugars in the future, but for now, stevia and I are best buddies and I'm pretty happy with that.

So why am I telling you all this? Just so I can say that I've been sugar-free for months? Um...no. When I find a product I believe in, I want to share it with all of you, and thanks to NuNaturals, I get to do that. Although I bought my own stevia a few months back, I recently won a NuNaturals NuStevia giveaway from City|Life|Eats. I was so excited that I had won that I had to share my thanks with the company. They thanked me back by offering not one, but four of my readers a giveaway. So four of you will receive a gift pack that includes a box of 50 NuStevia Packets and a bottle of NuNaturals Vanilla Liquid Stevia. In addition, if you don't win (or even if you do), NuNaturals is also offering free samples of their NuStevia packets. You can read more about that by clicking here. And from now until February 28th, you can also get 15% off your order from NuNaturals.com by using this code, BLG228, at checkout. Okay, so...you have a lot of ways now to try stevia out without too much commitment. In the next couple of weeks, I'll be sharing some stevia recipes of my own to help you get started (or keep you going if you already use stevia).

How can you win this giveaway? Let me count the ways:

Leave a comment letting me know if you've tried stevia before and what you think.

Post about this giveaway on your blog, on facebook, or on twitter. You can tweet daily for more entries.

Stumble or Digg this giveaway. I should admit here that I'm not positive what Digging is, but I assume it's the same as stumbling, so if you know how to do it, go for it!

Do anything else you want to do, and let me know you did it. :)

This contest is only open to readers in the Continental U.S. Sorry, my Canadian readers! You'll have until the end of the month, which should give me plenty of time to come up with more stevia recipes for you. Leave a separate comment for everything you do, and as always, leave your e-mail address when you comment. You can't win if I can't contact you, right?

Come back later this week for two of my favorite ways to use stevia: a simple take on maple-glazed chicken, and a sweet curry salad dressing!

I love stevia, but right now only use it in my tea. I too won the giveaway from NuNaturals and have been using the vanilla liguid stevia in my tea, although I should probably save it for my iced tea. I can't wait for your recipes using stevia. I also grew it last year in my garden and can't wait to grow it again. I don't know if it will come back, but I will certainly buy a new plant if I have to. I need to find out ways of using the plant though!

I have used stevia for the past six years after being diagnosed with IBS and reading about it in an "IBS for Dummies" book. At first I could only find it at a nutritional supplement store. I was very happy when my grocery store started carrying it. I have never cooked with it because I never could figure out ratios. I will look forward to your recipes!

I tried it years ago when it was a new product, and I didn't like it then, but I am hearing so much about stevia and it's benefits that I am curious. Back in the day, it had a really strong licorice taste, and it wasn't easy to find the refined powder, but now I see it at all the stores in refined powder and liquid forms too, so it's time to take another look at this product.

I use stevia a lot but am not 100% sugar free yet. I've been substituting part of the sugar in recipes with stevia, and I really don't notice a difference in taste! Hubby caught me putting it into his smoothies but he was pleasantly surprised.

I've tried a brand called Truvia. I liked it. To me it had a true sugary taste. However, Consumer Reports said that it had a chemical taste to it. I disagree. Would love the chance to try another brand.

I have been pleasantly surprised by stevia. My recent use of it in homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies was fantastic (http://ow.ly/3Y01f). I plan on continuing to experiment with it, though I'm still uncertain about certain criteria. For example, if a recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar and you want to replace it with stevia drops or powder, how do you account for the loss of bulk that the sugar would normally supply?

Ellen, I've wondered that same thing! I haven't figured it out yet, although I have had moderate success adding in something like cooked quinoa to replace the bulk of the sugar. But I'm sure there's a better solution!

I was wanting to eliminate both artificial and white sugar from my diet, or at least drastically reduce them so when I heard about Stevia I was very interested. Ever since I've started using it I've found I feel better and some of my IBS symptoms have lessened. So I'm sold. It's healthy, better than sugar and worth the cost in my opinion, but I would still love to win some free Stevia as I've never tried the liquid version.

I've tried and love stevia. I use it in my tea and also use the liquid vanilla creme in my plain yogurt... delicious! No strange aftertastes. The only place I don't like it so far is my coffee, but I'm trying to adjust!

I'm totally with you on sugar of any form causing the same reactions as processed sugar. Heck, even eating too much fruit makes me all jittery. Which is why I adore stevia. I don't consider it that expensive - you need to use so much less of it than sugar that even if it's more expensive by volume, you're certainly getting your money's worth.I make pretty much everything with stevia - don't know what I'd do without it!

I've never tried Stevia before, because its expensive, and agave is easier for me to find. I would love to try it though! I've seen lots of GF recipes with it! I would also have to import it regularly (im a missionary kid in Europe), so its not worth it to buy it for me. But I would love to try it if I won this giveaway! I posted about this giveaway at the bottom of my blog: clairecornercz.blogspot.com ! Thanks for the giveaway!

I have tried powdered stivea and the liquid extract and find each to be right for certian things like drinks, or mixed with sugar alcholols in a baking mix. I highly recommend you buy a sweet leaf plant and crush a leaf in your tea.

Hey Iris! Just discovered your blog as I was looking for new recipe ideas for my stevia site. If you want more info on stevia, be sure to check it out ;-) I've been working hard on it.

Would you say that NuNaturals is your favorite brand? Have you tried others? I'm planning on doing some reviews for my site soon, but it's kind of hard since the US brands are not really available where I live (Belgium).

Hello, I just found your site via Simply Sugar Gluten free. I'm brand new to low carb eating (well, I tried it in the 80s but couldn't deny myself so many of my diet staples! Also, I've always been interested in healthy eating. So, I was wary of sugar substitutes...ignoring how bad for me sugar was as well!!On a recent grocery trip I bought NuNaturals alcohol free stevia...I'd tried another brand's dry stevia and hated it. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. I love it in my chai tea (not chai mix, just tea :) It also seems to help when added to other sweeteners when attempting baked goods. I'm still working on that and researching. But....so far NuNaturals wins the taste test for me! Glad I found your site!THanks!!